Alarming Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe; Russia and Ukraine’s Standoff Escalates; Martial Law Takes Effect In Paris Of Ukraine;

November 28, 2018

xfdls CNN-NEWSROOM-20

<Show: CNN NEWSROOM>

<Date: November 28, 2018>

<Time: 09:00>

<Tran: 112820CN.V11>

<Type: SHOW>

<Head: Alarming Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe; Russia and Ukraine’s

Standoff Escalates; Martial Law Takes Effect In Paris Of Ukraine;

Trump Tells Washington Post He Might Not Meet Putin At G20; Crash Of

Lion Air Flight JT610; U.K.’s Messy Divorce; Anger In France; Trump

Slams G.M. For Plans To Close Plants; Trump Skeptical Of Climate

Change Warnings; Syrian Living In Airport Finds Refuge In Canada;

Facebook Under Fire. Aired 3-4a ET - Part 1>

<Sect: News; International>

<Time: 03:00>

<End: 03:59>

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] WILL RIPLEY, CNN HOST: A shadow over Europe. Inside the rise in anti-Semitism, hate speech and crime in Germany and what must be done to fight it.

Rising tensions and martial law in Ukraine as that country’s president warns a full-scale war is possible after a naval clash with Russia.

Plus, the crash of Lion Air flight 610, investigators revealing what happened in the cockpit in the minutes before the plane plunged into the Java Sea.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I’m Will Ripley, live in Hong Kong. And this is CNN Newsroom.

We begin with a shadow over Europe. Our extensive CNN investigation to the rise of anti-Semitism on the continent. CNN has spent months looking into the surge of hate crimes and hate speech targeting Jews across Europe.

And unsurprisingly, the ugliest examples are coming from a country that birth the Nazi movement surprisingly so the Nazi leaders who killed six million Jews during the Holocaust.

Germany has pledge in the decade since and gone to great lengths to atone for the atrocities and remember the victims. But there is new polling commissioned by CNN showing that 55 percent agree that anti- Semitism is once again a growing problem in Germany.

Fifty percent say that Jewish people are at risk of racist violence in that country. And 16 percent unbelievably believe that most anti- Semitism is a response to the everyday behavior of Jewish people who are living their lives there.

Germany has seen a surge in neo-Nazis and far-right nationalist groups over the last few years but they are not the only ones behind this rise in anti-Semitism.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It’s a sight you don’t expect to see in Germany in 2018. Hundreds of right-wing extremists, many neo-Nazis marching through the nation’s capital.

“Close the border” they shout. “Resistance, resistance.” The far right is enjoying a major come back here, bringing with it a troubling rise in anti-Semitism.

According to government figures, anti-Semitic attacks have increased by 20 percent in the last five years. The number of violent right-wing extremists has gone up by nearly a third. This man tells us a shadowy cabal of globalist controls the world.

So, when you talk about elites and you talk about finance is that another way of saying Jewish people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WARD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WARD: It is.

“Let me say it this way. The banking system, for sure. Banks, finance, the economy, mainly Jews,” he says. We had more questions but our conversation was cut short by one of the march’s organizers.

I think we have someone who is following.

Making anti-Semitic statements can be punishable under German law. But Christian Weissberger explains that neo-Nazis are finding new ways to express the same old hatred. And he should know, Weissberger used to be a right-wing extremist himself.

CHRISTIAN WEISSBERGER, FORMER NEO-NAZI: I would say that it is a form of anti-Semitism that disguised itself, so they don’t talk about the Jew anymore, they talk about the Zionist, or the globalist or the bankers.

WARD: And they are growing more brazen. One man flashes a quick but unmistakable Nazi salute right in front of us, a crime in Germany. It’s important to remember this isn’t any country, this is Germany.

Just a few hundred yards from the march is a memorial for the millions of Jews murdered here in the Second World War. More than 70 years after the Holocaust, Germany is still haunted by its past, and yet remarkably anti-Semitism is once again a growing problem here with 50 percent of Germans agreeing that Jewish people are now at risk of racist violence.

The statistic comes from a CNN poll that also found half of Germans believe Jews are at risk of hate speech. At Feinberg’s Israeli restaurant, owner Yorai says he gets threats every day.

YORAI FEINBERG, RESTAURANT OWNER: From murder, to I’ll break your knees, I’ll break your arms, I’ll break your teeth, they’re very creative in everything. All of the options that they want to break.

[03:05:01] WARD: He was recently accosted by a man who told him Jews will end up in the gas chamber.

“It’s only about the money for you, you will pay,” the man says to him. “Nobody wants you here.”

He told you to go to the gas chambers or that you will go back to the gas chambers?

FEINBERG: Yes.

WARD: You’ve heard things like that before?

FEINBERG: I heard it very often.

WARD: Germany acknowledged it has a problem, recently appointing its first anti-Semitism czar. Felix Klein is focused on creating a nationwide system for reporting anti-Semitic crimes and on improving integration of Germany’s different communities.

FELIZ KLEIN, ANTI-SEMITISM COMMISSIONER, GERMANY: Anti-Semitism always existed in Germany and also after 1945, and now though, it is showing its ugly face more openly. Things that people would never have dared to say in a bar or in a restaurant and a private surrounding do it so now using social media or the internet.

WARD: Germany has seen upticks in neo-Nazi activity before. Most notably in the 1990s. While official statistics show that more than 90 percent of anti-Semitic attacks nationwide are from the far right, there’s a new element of concern for the Jewish community. The arrival of 1.4 million Muslim refugees in the last three years.

Doron Rubin is the leader of Germany’s small Orthodox Jewish community.

DORON RUBIN, HEAD, KAHAL ADASS JISROEL CONGREGATION: A lot of coming, the incoming of a lot of immigrants, a different history and different background and especially obviously coming from the Middle East also because of Israel, a different attitude towards Jews.

KLEIN: When we talk about Muslims originated anti-Semitism, I think we can only win that battle with the help of the moderate Muslims, without them, this wouldn’t be a successful fight.

WARD: Overall, the Jewish community remains anxious.

RUBIN: I think much more Jews now think again like can we call Germany our home. And is it possible to live in this society. You can know that that’s question that might not have been asked five years ago are starting to pop up again.

WARD: It’s a question few in this country ever imagined would have to be asked again.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: Just remarkable. And of course, this is being watched very closely in Israel where CNN’s Oren Liebermann is and with us now from Jerusalem. So, Oren, you sat down with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Was there anything in this investigation that surprised him?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wouldn’t say surprised. He pointed out that Israel does its own tracking of anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere. So, he’s aware as not only Israelis but Jews all over the world that their remains sometimes strongly so anti-Semitism in Europe and other places, anti-Semitism in the U.S. and around the world.

He did say he was concerned but what surprised me about the interview is, he was optimistic about the efforts taken by European governments, Eastern Europe and Western Europe and he was optimistic about the work being done to combat anti-Semitism. We sat down with the prime minister in this exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Prime Minister Netanyahu, thank you for sitting down with us.

Anti-Semitism in Europe is nothing new, but the results of our survey are still quite striking. More than a quarter of Europeans believe that Jews have too much influence in politics and finance. Twenty percent believe that anti-Semitism is a response to the everyday actions of Jews.

You travel to Europe often and you meet the leaders there, are you surprised?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m concerned. Because I think anti-Semitism is an ancient disease and when it rears its ugly head, it first attacks the Jews, but it never stops with them and then sweeps entire society. This happened obviously in the mid- century Europe, first in Germany and then throughout all of Europe and the consequences were horrible.

Yes, I’m concerned. But I think we have to fight it. And we are fighting it. And some of the -- most of the European countries and governments I commend them for fighting anti-Semitism. They’re right.

LIEBERMANN: It’s easy to sit here and make statement and say never again every Holocaust Memorial Day, but that’s not going to end this. Do you see the concrete actions that need to happen here on the part of European countries?

NETANYAHU: Well, it looks to (Inaudible) between two things. First, the sources of anti-Semitism. There’s old anti-Semitism in Europe that came from the extreme right and that is still around. But there’s also new anti-Semitism that comes from the extreme left, and also the radical Islamic pockets in Europe that spew forth these lies and slanders about Israel.

The only democracy in this entire region, the only one that has courts, human rights, right for all regions, gays, everything. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous.

[03:09:59] I mean, the attacks on Israel, the one carrier of European values in in the Middle East is absurd and it is absurd twice. Not because of what I said but because six million Jews annihilated on the soil of Europe and to have anti-Semitism in Europe is a particular -- particularly offensive absurdity of history.

So, yes, I’m concerned with that. But again, what do I see? Number one, I see European governments, I spoke to Merkel, Macron and May and they were -- and others. They’re putting up a fight. I’m seeing this in Eastern Europe.

I saw Viktor Orban in Hungary. He’s opened up a center against anti- Semitism. I saw Sebastian Kurz in Austria. He just held a conference against anti-Semitism. And that’s encouraging.

But the other side of it is, of course, education. You also have to educate people. In your survey, you know, a good chunk -- a third of the people hardly knew anything about the Holocaust. I think education is important. And I think a strong forceful position is important.

I’ll tell you what else is important. The state of Israel is important, because when we had no state, we were completely defenseless against anti-Semitic forces that annihilated a third of our people. Every third Jew was destroyed.

Well, today we have a state, we have a capacity to stand up for ourselves and to defend ourselves and that ultimately is the best guarantor against anti-Semitism.

LIEBERMANN: You mentioned Hungary, one of the countries in Poland as well. These are countries where anti-Semitic imagery dog whistle anti- Semitism was used in everyday politics, yet, nevertheless, they have good relations with Israel. Their leaders seem to have good relations with you. Is there contradiction there, how do you reconcile that?

NETANYAHU: Look, there are old tendencies that have to be fought and they keep coming back, it’s like a, I describe anti-Semitism as like a chronic disease. It can be fatal if you don’t challenge it. And it can be contained and reduced if you do. That’s what I expect government and leaders to do and mostly of them actually they do do it.

(CROSSTALK)

LIEBERMANN: What about when those leaders both use that anti-Semitic imagery--

NETANYAHU: Well-- LIEBERMANN: -- and are strong friends of Israel? Is there an issue there?

NETANYAHU: I don’t think they should. I don’t think they do. And I think that ultimately the -- the real issue is can we tolerate the idea that people say that Israel doesn’t have a right to exist which I think is the ultimate anti-Semitic statement, you know.

The majority of the Jewish people are very soon going to be living in Israel. There are over six million Jews now living in Israel. So, the new anti-Semites say this. Well, we’re not against Jews, we’re just against the state of Israel.

It’s like I would say, well, I’m not against French people, I just don’t think there should be France. France wouldn’t exist. So, anti- Semitism and anti-Zionism and anti-Israeli policies. The idea that Israelis doesn’t have, the Jewish people don’t have a right for a state. That’s the ultimate anti-Semitism of today.

I talked about Zionism. You know, we’re sitting here in this interview about 200 meters from Mount Zion. mount Zion is the mountain in the center of Jerusalem where King David proclaim Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people 3,000 years ago.

And Theodor Herzl, the modern Moses, led our people to reestablish a Jewish state here called this national movement Zionist based on this mountain right here.

So, when people say, well, I’m not an anti-Semite, I’m only anti- Zionist. They’re basically saying, I don’t think the Jewish people should have a state. And the Iranians say even more blunt, not only shouldn’t they have a state but we’re going to annihilate the six million who are here.

We’re going to deny that there was a Holocaust that killed six million Jews. And while we’re planning the next Holocaust for the six million who are here.

Well, as we say, that is not going to happen. Because we’re not going to let it happen. But I think that anti-Semitism has to be exposed. Anti-Israel policies of the kind that say, not criticism, that we can accept, you know, everybody can be criticized.

But to say you don’t have a right to have your own state, we’ve been here for 3,000 years, actually 4,000, closer to 4,000 if you include Abraham. We don’t have a right to exist? Well, if we don’t have the right to exist, nobody has a right to exist.

And I think be that that particular prejudice against the Jewish people has to be countered and I’m glad to see leaders like the president of the -- of the Czech Republic who was just here, Milos Zeman, saying, if we betray Israel, we betray ourselves.

And he said it in the previous speech, he said, “I’m a Jew because the Jewish people carried the values of western civilization and I identify with that.” [03:14:56] And I think there’s -- this is the deepest meaning of anti- Semitism. It really goes against the whole idea of the development of western civilization and of human enlightenment and freedom.

Israel is not above criticism. But the idea, but we’re slandered very often. And especially the idea that we don’t have a right to exist, well, you know, frankly, I’ll combat it and if people don’t like it, let them not like it. We’re here. We’re going stay here.

LIEBERMANN: Are you confident about the future of Jews in Europe?

NETANYAHU: I think it has to be protected. And we expect every government to act to protect Jews as they would act to protect anyone living there and many are. Individual Jews have a choice. They can always come here but we -- we respect their individual choice.

But I also expect and actually see that the governments of Europe by and large I have to say just about every one of them acts to fend off these attacks because they’re wrong in their own right, and also they’re wrong, they’re dangerous for the society at large. And I’m glad to see this policy pretty much across the board.

LIEBERMANN: Prime Minister, thank you for your time.

NETANYAHU: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Our survey did very much make big headlines here the moment it was released. This is the main newspaper in Israel from yesterday. The moment our survey was released, they had their own version, it says, “anti-Semitism survey from CNN” with some of the results on the front page, as well as a two-page spread inside.

And our survey continues to make big headlines today. This is today’s Jerusalem Post with a result right in the front page. “A third of Europeans say Jews too influential, CNN poll 20 percent say anti- Semitism result of Jewish behavior.”

So, this continues to be a major story here even if everyone here is already aware that anti-Semitism exists in Europe and elsewhere. It is the striking results of that survey and a slap in the face that the survey results give you that keeps the story ongoing.

What were of course be interesting to see is the trend here. Our survey has given us a snapshot of anti-Semitism at this moment or at least over the course of the past few months. To know where it was 10 years ago, to know where it will be in another 10 years would of course be a fascinating question.

Will, that would give us even more insight into the directions here especially as you see the rise in Europe of populist politics of far- right parties which is Austria’s freedom party which has Nazi roots to it from decades ago.

The rise of that is that overpowering what Netanyahu has pointed out as the efforts of European government to try to combat anti-Semitism and to try to fight anti-Semitism and to try to educate against it. Will?

RIPLEY: Such an important conversation, especially right now and a fascinating CNN exclusive with Bibi Netanyahu. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem for us. Thanks very much.

And on Thursday, we turn the focus to France. Home to largest Jewish population in Europe. Anti-Semitism has always been a problem there but attacks have been increasing in recent years.

Clarissa Ward meets one woman who questions her family’s future in France.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: Miriam and her family have considered moving from France. Joining the more than 55,000 Jews that who have left since the year 2000. In the sanctuary of their home they celebrate Shabbat, a ritual ushered in every Friday night by lighting candles and reciting a blessing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I’m scared for the future of my baby here, I hope that he will have a future here. And you know, Jewish communities are part of historical France. Really. And so, I think France without any Jews is not anymore France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: Clarissa also speaks with officials from the French government to find out exactly what they’re doing to counter this troubling trend. Join us for the next report in our CNN exclusive series, a shadow over Europe, anti-Semitism in 2018. That’s Thursday, only on CNN.

And up next here in the CNN Newsroom, we go live to Ukraine where a standoff with Russia appears to be escalating. Martial law is now in effect in some areas. And Ukraine’s president is warning there could be a full-scale war.

And more anti-government protests are planned in France, the third weekend in a row there by demonstrators, saying their president is ignoring their concerns.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RIPLEY: You’re watching CNN Newsroom live from Hong Kong.

And at this hour, martial law is now in effect across parts of Ukraine. Russia seized three Ukrainian ships and detained more than 20 troops on Sunday near Crimea. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko says it now faces the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion.

Many western leaders are condemning Russia’s behavior. U.S. President Donald Trump telling the Washington Post he might not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit. CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, he’s live in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Nick, you were there in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, what sense are you getting now? Is this rhetoric or is there actually a real threat of a full-scale war?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that really the point to the Russian (Inaudible), Will, is that you will never know what they’re actually up to. That’s just the general thrust behind what they’ve been doing here for the last four years. Nobody expected them to walk into Crime pretending to be a little green man and not actually Russian special forces.

Nobody expected them to use local separatist in Donetsk just a few months later and take over that part of the country too. Nobody really knows what’s behind clearly that quite aggressive confrontation between, overtly this time, not in disguise, not through proxies, the Russian military and Ukrainian navy on Sunday that led to two dozen Ukrainian soldiers now being in Russian custody. Half of them sentenced to two months.

And now we have Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president beleaguered frankly, throughout his term by the slow Russian hiding off of parts of Ukrainian territory to declare martial law.

Today, it came into effect one hour or 20 minutes ago. Its in 10 regions far away from where I’m standing in the capital Kiev. But we’re now getting a sense of sort razor wire suddenly dropping across the country. This is perhaps something a little subtler.

The nation already at war for the last four years, really, a daily death on the front line here. But now with extra measures for air defense, cyber security and troops on the ground and the possibility held out by President Poroshenko to CNN yesterday that they might restrict movement to Russian citizens into the country here.

But really the broader question has always been the case, is what exactly is the international community’s red line here? What does the Kremlin think it can successfully, quote, “can get away with?”

Now, Russia have said clearly that it believes all of this is Ukrainian provocation because Petro Poroshenko is doing so badly in the polls ahead of presidential elections in March.

At the same time, Angela Merkel of Germany has called for deescalation. The U.S. on a cabinet level has called this Russian aggression, but we’re still seeing Donald Trump saying he’s not happy, quote, “either way,” with perhaps that suggests Ukraine or Russia’s behavior here. He doesn’t like the aggression, he said last night he was getting a full report, two days staggeringly after the original incident in the Kerch Strait on Sunday.

[03:24:59] We have yet to hear him vehemently condemn Russian actions here. And I think if you’re assessing this inside the Kremlin’s walls, you’re kind of looking at that as maybe, not a green light, but a sign of, perhaps, the sort of Obama era, wall of sanctions that were met after Crimea and Donetsk may not really be coming, and perhaps, there’s a little more you might be able to get away with.

But as I say, the whole point of the Russian strategy is to leave you absolutely none there wiser about what they’re really thinking. Will?

RIPLEY: So, what is feeling of people on the ground right now? Are they nervous? Or do they feel that this is just more politicians talking?

WALSH: This is a country that’s been at war for four years. So, obviously, emotions have been heightened. They’re exhausted. They’re at a great point of anxiety because martial law are intended (Ph) and that’s not something they’ve seen before. They don’t really know whether that’s going to affect their political rights. Does it mean the elections could get delayed for March?

That’s obviously not something the government says is remotely a possibility because this martial law should be over in 30 days. But even on the separatist side, two residents of Donetsk held by separatists that we spoke to, they are nervous. They obviously have been in a state of warfare, as I say for months.

You just have to remember, Will, this is not a new war. This is a moment in the war which the world is paying attention to. Because it’s different because it happened in the Kerch Strait. But fighting has been going on here since 2014.

People are concerned obviously that any blockade of separatist areas and any movements may give license to Russian-backed forces to try something new or different or move in other areas. Or that perhaps Ukraine’s government feels it has to do something to save face.

But I think there’s a broad calculation by most analysts that the Ukrainian military improves as it has no real chance against the Russian armed forces. And so, this is a careful game of stalemate where the Kremlin has the motivational upper hand. Will?

RIPLEY: A long simmering conflict, you’ve been covering from the beginning. I know you’ll continue doing so. Nick Paton Walsh, live in Kiev for us. Thank you.

A Lion Air flight crashing just minutes after takeoff killing all 189 people on board. And now, there is a new report offering a glimpse of what went wrong in the minutes before that crash.

And CNN is on the road with Brexit, British prime -- Britain’s prime minister trying to defend the deal to divorce from the E.U., but are business leaders buying it? We’re live in London with a tough sell, next on CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RIPLEY: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. Live from Hong Kong. I’m Will Ripley. And these are the headlines at this hour.

Ukraine is now imposing martial law in areas it says are under the threat of invasion from Russia. [03:30:01] The two countries are trading accusations after Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships near Crimea and Ukraine’s President said his country could facing a full-scale war with Russia.

NATO is condemning Russia’s actions against Ukraine and so are some U.S. officials, but the U.S. President Donald Trump says he is waiting on a full report from his national security team. He tells the “Washington Post” he may not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit.

And we’re learning more about what went wrong in the minutes before a Lion airplane crashed in October, killing 189 people. There’s a new report, a preliminary report that Indonesian investigators say, indicates that this Boeing 737 max aircraft experienced similar flight control problems on a previous flight, but the report said the pilots took different action. It suggests that Lion Air can do more to improve safety, but it does not offer a definitive cause of the crash.

And Boeing is now responding saying the report does not disclose what action was taken by the pilots on the doomed flight. It is a complex and sad situation for all of those families who want answers in this. CNN’s Ivan Watson who is here in Hong Kong but was on the ground in Jakarta after the crash. Ivan, you had been in touch with investigators, so, what are the main take away from these report and where do we go from here?

IVAN WATSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, it fills in a lot of that blanks about the final flight and about a consistent problem that this particular aircraft was having on the last four days before it crashed. It was consistently getting the wrong altitude and velocity readings on its data instruments. We learned more about the final 11-minute flight on the morning of October 29th where 189 people tragically died. This is a graphic that we pulled from the report that shows the altitude of the plane during that 11-minute flight which dipped and dove and then ultimately did that sharp dive as you can see at the end of that 11 minute timeline.

But I want to show you a second graph that we pulled from the report which suggests that the pilots were battling the auto pilot system in the plane, basically when the sensors give you the wrong altitude and the wrong readings, this particular brand of Boeing 737 max eight, it kicks in a kind of auto pilot feature which set the plane into a dive. And that you can see on that graph there, that is the orange line there.

Every one of those dips is one of those dives, Will. And the blue line there is the pilot responding and trying to pull the nose of the plane up after every short dive there. If I could draw a comparison, Will, it is like if you’re driving a car and the cruise control takes over and refuses to respond to you or if the accelerator continues to push down and you’re fighting the controls of the vehicle.